MURFREESBORO — Three
women who juggle family and academic responsibilities while pursuing their
collegiate goals will receive full tuition for one semester from MTSU’s June S.
Anderson Foundation.
Organizers awarded the scholarships to the trio, all seniors
at MTSU, at a May 11 luncheon at B. McNeel’s restaurant in Murfreesboro,
Tennessee.
Rebecca Craighead, a Murfreesboro resident, is majoring in
biochemistry with an emphasis on nutrition and dietetics. She aspires to be an
endocrinologist and perform research on autoimmune diseases.
“To have a group of intelligent women select me to represent
this foundation motivates me to want to do my best, and I intend to make
everyone proud,” Craighead said.
Andrea Madison of Nashville is majoring in Spanish at MTSU with
a minor in business administration. Married with five children, Madison and her
husband operate a small barber shop in Nashville.
“By removing financial barriers, this gives me the ability
to focus on academics instead of how I’m going to repay my student loans,” said
Madison.
Lori Grimes, an organizational communication major from
Shelbyville, Tennessee, is a two-time Anderson Foundation scholarship recipient
and a first-generation college student. Her husband, Billy, retired after 25
years with the Los Angeles Police Department following an on-the-job injury
that has caused recurring health issues.
The Grimeses’ daughter is an MTSU graduate who is pursuing a
second degree in nursing, and their son is on track to graduate with his mother
in December 2016.
“To be able to do this and finish this college degree … has
allowed us to extend some help to our children,” said Lori Grimes.
Applicants for a June S. Anderson Foundation scholarship
must be women enrolled at MTSU who are age 23 or older. Academic majors in
fields that are nontraditional for women are encouraged, and financial need and
personal challenges also are considered by the foundation.
“All of these great scholars exemplify what we’ve been
looking for and what Dr. Anderson certainly would have been looking for in her
time,” said Andrienne Friedli, a chemistry professor and vice president of the
foundation’s board of directors.
June S. Anderson, a chemistry professor at MTSU for more
than 25 years, advanced the causes of women on campus until her death in 1984.
The Ripley, Tennessee, native founded Concerned Faculty and Administrative
Women in 1975 at MTSU as an academic support service for women and in 1977 established
the Women’s Information Service for Education, which now is the June Anderson
Center for Women and Nontraditional Students.
In the early 1980s, Anderson founded the university’s first
day care center, established MTSU’s women’s studies program and created the
June S. Anderson Foundation. At the state level, she was the founder and first
president of Women in Higher Education in Tennessee.
“I am really excited to work for a school that recognizes
women, that recognizes a woman who was phenomenal, who paved the way like no
other, and now she’s leaving a legacy of women to empower them to do the same,”
said Barbara Scales, director of the June Anderson Center.
For more information about the Anderson Foundation
scholarships, visit http://capone.mtsu.edu/jsa or contact
Friedli at andrienne.friedli@mtsu.edu
or foundation president Mary Magada-Ward at mary.magada-ward@mtsu.edu.
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